This article examines the legal and political significance of teacher unionization in rural and suburban school districts between 1960 and 1975. While most historians focus on the growth of unions in urban areas, strikes in outlying districts played a determinative role in the development of public sector labor law, particularly in the arbitration…

In a global knowledge economy, filling in the bubbles on a standardized test isn't going to prepare children to succeed in life. This is the time to shed the old conflicts and come together. In this article, the author suggests a new path forward--toward a 21st-century education system, a serious and comprehensive reform plan to transform U.S.…

This glossary is designed for practitioners who have no special preparation in public sector labor relations but who must know its vocabulary because of their growing involvement in the field. For those practitioners whose jurisdictions lie within the six midwestern states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, the names…

The court's conclusion that educational policy excluded teaching effectiveness programs from the scope of mandatory bargaining was reached by its failure to submit the Michigan Employment Relations Commission decision to rigorous judicial review. Available from Wayne Law Review, Wayne State University Law School, 468 West Ferry Street, Detroit,…

A public school teacher recounts her personal struggle against compulsory unionization in Michigan and describes the adverse effects of collective bargaining on public education. These include loss of public support, antagonism between teachers and administrators, and a decline in teacher professionalism and educational quality. (TE)

This book contains nine papers presented during a year-long series of seminars and a conference that analyzed the relationship between economic restructuring and industrial relations involving the joint academics, union leaders, government officials, business executives, and graduate fellows. These analyses include case studies from Western…

This report describes a problem-solving approach to grievance settling and negotiations developed in the Brighton, Michigan, school district and inspired by the book, "Getting To Yes," by Roger Fisher and William Ury. In this approach teachers and administrators come to the table not with fixed positions but with problems both sides want…